Whirlpool sales up but profits go down the drain

US HOME appliance giant Whirlpool has seen its fourth quarter profits plummet on the back of the high costs from recent acquisitions.

Whirlpool completed the purchase of Italy’s Indesit and a 51 per cent stake in China’s Hefei Rongshida Sanyo last quarter, greatly expanding the company’s reach into the European and Asian markets where sales more than doubled.

While this has had the welcome result of delivering a better than expected increase in overall sales of 18 per cent during the period to $6bn (£3.9bn), the costs led to profits and earnings per share suffered a sharp decline.

Net profits fell to $171m in the three months to 31 December, down 25 per cent on the previous year with net profits falling by a massive 55 per cent to $81m for the same period. Whirlpool expects earnings to be on-target between $10.75 and $11.75 per share.